Registers for controlling the flow of air into a room are well known and typically include a frame having a number of vents through which air is dispensed into the room. In addition, the register typically includes a damper that is connected to the body by a manually controllable lever that allows the user to open and close the register. A typical building, such as a home, will have many such registers for dispensing air into particular rooms and, by selectively opening and closing certain registers throughout the home, the user can control which rooms receive conditioned air. Such registers often are located near the bottom of the wall, such that air is dispensed near the floor of the room. Although preferred when providing warm conditioned air, such an arrangement inefficiently dispenses cool conditioned air.
It is generally known that dispensing cool air near the ceiling of a room results in more efficient distribution of cool conditioned air, but known systems that implement such a feature are bulky, inefficient, expensive, and unattractive. For example, one known system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,266 includes a central air uptake attachment having a housing with upper and lower outlets. Together with the interior-facing side of a room wall, the housing defines an internal chamber for channeling air from the room wall air outlet to the upper and/or lower outlets. The housing must be glued to the wall or sealed in some other fashion to prevent air flow from escaping at the seams of the apparatus, thus making removal and/or repositioning of the apparatus difficult. And, when mounted, the housing unattractively protrudes into the room, thus inconveniently occupying a portion of the room. Moreover, such a system is limited as it really is only effective where a room has a floor vent.
In addition to its burdensome construction, such a system exhibits unacceptable levels of conditioned air losses, whether warm or cool air is desired. For example, imperfect seals between the apparatus and the wall can lead to inefficient distribution of cool air near the floor of the room. Further, because the conditioned air travels through an additional duct that is located away from the existing main air carrying passage of the building, losses are realized due to the long journey that the air must complete prior to being dispensed into the room. Losses can result from stagnating air within the uptake channel as well as in the main air carrying passage. Overall, because the upper and lower outlets are disposed away from the wall and spaced from the room wall air outlet, this bulky and relatively expensive apparatus, including the uptake attachment, disadvantageously provides inefficient communication of air between the air supply and the room.
As a result, the field of air flow control devices is in need of a self-contained apparatus that is retrofittable to an existing air dispensing outlet formed in a wall, is easy to operate and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. In addition, an apparatus is desired that efficiently distributes both hot and cold air into the room throughout existing outlets, the outlets preferably being situated at or near the floor and ceiling of the room.
What is needed is an apparatus that can selectively and efficiently distribute cool air near the top of the room when cooling is desired and hot air near the bottom of the room and which is integral with the wall in which it is mounted. What is further needed is an apparatus that has a bottom register that utilizes more than one damper to provide a better seal to minimize air flow losses during operation.